Mississippi’s top court to hear arguments over spending public money on private schools – By Emily Wagster Pettus (Associated Press) / Feb 6, 2024
The Mississippi Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over a state law that would put $10 million of federal pandemic relief money into infrastructure grants for private schools
JACKSON, Miss. — The Mississippi Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in a dispute over a state law that would put $10 million of federal pandemic relief money into infrastructure grants for private schools.
Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin blocked the law in October 2022 after Parents for Public Schools sued the state. The nonprofit group argued the grants would give private schools a competitive advantage over public schools.
“Any appropriation of public funds to be received by private schools adversely affects schools and their students,” Martin wrote. “Taxpayer funding for education is finite.”
The lawsuit cited a section of the Mississippi Constitution that prohibits the use of public money for any school that is not “a free school.”
